ASHS Students Protest Marcos Burial

On November 8, 2016, the Philippine Supreme Court (SC) allowed the burial of former president Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery). Voting 9-5, Supreme Court spokesperson Ted Te said the SC dismissed all the petitions challenging the proposed burial of the former strongman Marcos at the Heroes’ Cemetery.

In response to this, the Ateneo Senior High School Community expressed its disagreement with the decision through events held around the campus. The Council of Student Organizations (CSO), through Ehvan delos Santos, its Vice-Chairman, organized several forms of protest through the different student organizations. For one, Performing Arts organization Teatro Baguntao arranged a small tableau to relay their disapproval of the SC’s decision. Other orgs were asked to participate in a protest around the Senior High School Campus and were encouraged to wear a black top to show their unified stance on the matter. The rally started with delos Santos giving a few opening remarks to explain the reason for the rally. In his speech, he hoped to invoke the call to be “mulat, malay at sangkot,” values taught to Ateneans in the subject of Araling Panlipunan. The protest aimed to allow the Ateneans’ voices to be heard and served as an outlet for their frustrations towards the said decision.

A number of ASHS students were present as the rally marched through the campus. Powerful chanting of the phrase, “Never Again!” echoed the hallways of the Senior High School building. Some students also brought placards containing messages such as “EDSA ang saksi, Marcos hindi bayani.” Despite the many students expressing their discontent, it was noticed that some chose not to rally as seriously.

Through this mini-protest, delos Santos hopes that this only the start of ASHS students voicing out their opinions on societal issues. “This is just the start and I’m looking forward to see more Ateneans especially from Senior High to act! I would love to see everyone to be part and to actually do something about this,” delos Santos said.